The Thunder jumped out to a nice fat 17-7 lead in the first quarter and never trailed in the smackdown of the Washington Wizards before a reported sell out crowd. How cool is that?

The score isn’t really indicative of the game though as the Wiz did pull even at 32 apiece to start the second quarter. Later the Wiz were just down 1 at 65-66, but for most of the game the Thunder seemed to have a lead that vacillated between 5 and 10 points. Grant Long said it well tonight when he was talking about the Wiz when he said something along the lines of the Wiz having all the talent a team could want, but for whatever the reason the pieces don’t seem to fit. I see his point.

I personally think the Wizards problem is defense, or a lack of it to be more specific. The Wiz matchup very well with the Thunder at every position but their supposed “stopper” is Deshawn Stevenson who only saw 12 minutes of play.

I also thought it sort of funny that Brian Davis in the pregame quoted Scott Brooks with saying something like “we are going to put our stamp on this game with our defense” (or something close to that). By the third quarter I was thinking that the first team that played defense would probably win. I was wrong, neither played any defense to speak of, but we scored more and scored more efficiently. Hey, it wasn’t a thing of beauty, but I will certainly take it. Keep Reading…

This one doesn’t feel as good as it did three nights ago. At that time, the Wizards were hurt again and limped out to a 2-7 record. But Wednesday, Washington put a beating on the Cavs and actually looked as good as their roster indicates. Now, of course that was at home and they’re 1-4 on the road, but still. I think we learned last week nothing is a gimme right now. Keep Reading…

PROGRAMMING NOTE: I will be going out of town for a few days. Daily Thunder will still be up and running at full capacity though. Joe will take you home. BUT, your Monday – Wednesday Bolts of next week will be missing. I hope I didn’t destroy your day. But the pregamers and postgamers will be up in a timely fashion as always. And thank you.

Jack McCallum on Bill Simmons’ book: “Some critics complain that The Sports Guy could’ve written The Book of Basketball in far fewer than 700 pages and 7,000 footnotes. But that’s like walking into a Greek restaurant and yelling, “Why the hell is there baklava on the menu! I hate baklava!” Oversized is what you get from Simmons, who can safely be called the only human being to bring the relationship between Mario Lopez and Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Saved By The Bell stars in the early 90s — I had to look it up) into a discussion about the relationship between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.”

Kevin Durant on his childhood hero Vince Carter: “When I was growing up, I always thought Vince was the best. I still look up to him, and I’m still a big fan,” Durant said. “I used to watch his highlights as a kid. When I was about 11, my mom bought me a Vince Carter jersey and shorts, his Raptors uniform, and I wore it to every game. I guess that’s a little embarrassing to say now, but it’s something I’ll never forget.” Durant’s innocence was refreshing. It made him and everyone around him smile. But it’s probably not the kind of competitive edge that the Thunder needed from him. He is on the verge of becoming an NBA All-Star, but he sure didn’t play like one Wednesday night, sinking to his worst performance of the season.”

FanHouse’s power rankings: “Don’t look now, but the Thunder are still above .500 in the middle of November. Not exactly the biggest feat, but considering wins over the Spurs, Heat, and the Magic, the potential is there for this team to make a playoff run. But they’ve got to get better consistency from the Big 3 (Durant, Green, Westbrook), and quit losing silly games like Sunday’s banana-peel blooper against the Clippers.” Keep Reading…

For much of the past week, discussion on this website has been centered around the theoretical acquisition of Oklahoma City’s first professional superstar, Chris Paul. And while the debate has raged between those who agree with me and think, “If you can a player as good as CP3, you do it,” and those people who are wrong, there is nothing close to unanimity on the topic.

So, today, I will try to change the subject and delve into another trading opportunity the Thunder could theoretically, but probably not, have. The idea came to me when I read this article (insider access required) by Chad Ford. For those without ESPN Insider, the gist of the article circled around the pipe dream that Miami might possibly woo both LeBron James and Chris Bosh to join a re-signed Dwyane Wade in the Summer of 2010.

The likelihood such a haul is irrelevant to this discussion, as what really matters is the Heat’s managment’s willingness to do what it takes for a chance to make the biggest free agent splash in NBA history. Because it would take a lot. A LOT. And that’s just for the opportunity to possibly coax those two into turning down a lot of other attractive opportunities.

Some of you may be wondering, “what does this have to do with the Thunder?” That’s a good question. Ford layed out three scenarios in which Miami could make a run at next Summer’s three premiere free agents. Numbers one and three were basically non-starters with the former involving sign and trades (which would be practically impossible for a Heat team that would basically have an empty roster) and the latter asking the three superstars to accept less so they could all play together (that only happens when players are trying to get a ring at the end of their careers).

That leaves the second scenario, for which Oklahoma City could get very involved. See what and how after the jump.

Hey, at least it was just a 14 point loss and not double that. Right? RIGHT?

Here’s what I’m telling myself: I wanted a split and a split is what I got. So the back end of this Florida back-to-back was very ugly. Very. Ugly. But yet, Oklahoma City comes home 6-6 with a winnable game Friday night.

Yes, that was a whooping. Yes, it doesn’t feel good. There are a TON of negatives to take out of that game, but consider: This was the fourth road game in five days for a very young team and the sixth overall in nine days. Oh, and playing at a fully rested Orlando Magic team that played for the big trophy last year. It’s not justification, it’s reality. This is a league where you play 82 times. Mail in efforts happen and they happen a lot. The Lakers just got walloped twice last week. The Nuggets took a beating a couple games ago. Heck, the Magic got smoked by some team by 28 if I remember right. Keep Reading…

Onward. A goal was to come back to OKC with a split. Now that’s locked away. So a sweep… well, that would be outstanding.

History would say that since Oklahoma City played so well last night that it will come out flat and under-perform tonight. But that’s only happened when a lackluster team follows the good game. So now you’ve got a really good team, with the Thunder coming off a big win. So I guess I would expect a loss, which means OKC will probably win which means I have no idea. I guess. I just don’t know what to think anymore. Keep Reading…

I think all of us in Oklahoma City (or those that watch this team nightly) know what a defensive specialist Thabo Sefolosha is.

He’s catching more national attention with stellar games against Kobe, Brandon Roy and Dwyane Wade, but for the most part, he’s not in the Top Defender discussion. But we all know he should be. A lot of times, in the NBA, defense is all about reputation. Have a couple nice games in the playoffs in front of everybody and your reputation is locked in as a great defender. Do it for five years and have the great players compliment you constantly, and you earn the reputation. But do it for a team in a small market that more still perceive as “sucky” and its hard to gain traction.

So I’m here to try and start creating that reputation for Thabo. I’ve watched him for about 30 games now and the guy is outstanding. Just outstanding. He plays with energy every night. He hits the glass. He helps. He cuts off passing lanes. He blocks shots. I think he defends three guys at a time. He. Does. It. All. You can see Thabo’s face lighting up to the challenge of guarding a great player. Some guys want to shoot it 20 times. Some want the glamour of a big highlight dunk. Thabo is in it because he wants to lock you down. Keep Reading…